When Will It End?

Cold and more cold. Spring officially arrived last week and it snowed. We had a hint of spring the next two days and then it turned colder again. I saw my gold fish when the ice melted and no longer covered the top of the pond, but then yesterday morning and this morning there was a new layer of ice on the pond. Yes, it was thin, but still ICE.

We are now expecting snow tonight and the temperature dropping to 16° and then warming all the way to 29° on Tuesday then slowly warming to the 40s and perhaps as high as the 60s on Sunday. Can you see how I am tired of this? Update March 26, 2014. The pond has been ice covered for three days now and yesterday morning we woke to one inch of snow. It is now 11:00am in Glen Ellyn and the temperature is a balmy 25°.

Cat pictures of the day. Every morning Shelby has to lick water from the shower by pushing his head around the corner of the shower curtain. He usually manages to get both his head and his tail wet which he then shares with us but rubbing up against us. He also has to be on the sink when we are using. LC will sit on the edge of the sink occasionally, and will drink from the water glass placed on the sink for them, but she is much nicer about the whole bathroom water issue. Other cat owners will understand the cat/human bathroom interactions. You are never alone in the bathroom with a cat or a toddler.

Shelby in the tub

Shelby behaving

Brady and Kathy visited last weekend. Kathy was here for the Shamrock Shuffle walk/run. We got to spend some time with Brady while Kathy was in the city. We had a nice, though sort visit.

Sun through the snow

Sometimes snow can be pretty. One of our last snows came down wet and clung to the trees. Then after the snow the sky cleared and the sun and blue sky was beautiful against the snow. Our official snow totals this year indicate just over 80 inches of snow for the season. this is the second or third most snow since Chicago record keeping started in 1885. This has also been one of the coldest winters on record. Brrrr.

I smoked ribs today - this first time using the smoker since last fall. There is still snow on the patio but I can get to the grills and smoker. If I've done this right, this You Tube video shows you my secrets. I haven't done anything like this, except for some short ukulele and kazoo videos. This is a long one and was a learning experience! All done with my iPad.

 

Polar Vortexing!

For the second time this winter we are being hit with the effects of he polar vortex. This morning Sharon flew off to Denver, Colorado where it is tankfully warmer than here! Last time the vortex did its thing she was scheduled to fly to Cleveland and her flight was cancelled. This time her flight was a go - except for the fact that the toilet froze before they got off the ground and they had to change planes.

It was -1 degrees when we left the house today at 5:00am. Even though the sun was shining through most of the day, the temperature dropped during the day and now at 9:00pm, the tempertature here in Glen Ellyn is down to -8. We are supposed to get down to -18 by morning. Yikes!

I spent the day inside except for the trip to O'Hare and one trip out to bring in the garbage and recycling bins and to get the mail. And, I was thankful that I put plastic film up on the inside of windows and put up the last storm window yeterday. The house is chilly, but there are few drafts. I was thankful that Shelby wanted to cuddle on my lap when I was on the computer and watching TV. He knows how to keep warm and keep me warm. I can take this time to pull of income taxes together and other paperwork tasks. I need to finish laminate in the basement but it is even too cold down there at 60 degrees.

Bring on warmer weather!!!

 

The Polar Vortex Chill Eases and Lessons Learned

Today we are above 0°! In fact, our thermometer indicates 15°. It is hard to imaging that on Monday we were down around -15° all day. It is now 30°s warmer and it is still darn cold!

This "polar vortex" hit us hard, practically shutting down the airports, making the roads a slippery mess, causing ice to form on the inside of some of our windows, and making our house darn uncomfortable! Sharon and I have pretty much been hunkered down since our ill fated trip to O'Hare on Monday. Sharon has been working at her computer helping clients in Ohio and Alaska. It is warmer in our house than at the office in Ohio and warmer outside in Alaska than it is here.

A few things I learned. When it is -15° outside, I should not let our furnace follow normal programming at night. Usually in the winter our thermostat drops us to 60° or 62° at night and then brings the furnace on in the morning to raise the house temperature to 68°. On Monday it was so cold outside that it took a good eight hours to get us up to 68°. On Tuesday night I let the temperature drop to 64° overnight and we recovered very quickly.

Also, windows that leak air normally seem to leak a lot more when it is so cold outside. I sealed the edges of a kitchen window and door with painter's tape to cut down on drafts. It did make a difference. Also, we normally leave one storm window off of our kitchen windows - this was a bad choice this year.

We have had a constant stream of birds and squirrels to and from our feeder in the back yard. We have seen cardinals, chickadees, nut hatches, downy woodpeckers, sparrows, and red and gray squirrels. Sharon observed a squirrel running up the maple tree with a tortilla we placed out side. The squirrel was attacked by a blue jay and the jay took the tortilla when the squirrel dropped it.

Rush Limbaugh says the Polar Vortex is something that the liberal media invented to explain away global warming. Lots of people have been saying the cold shows that global warming is not happening. Do they forget the difference between local or regional and global? Global weather is not indicated by the weather around you at this moment.

 

The Chill of January

January and February are generally the coldest and snowiest months here in the Chicago area and so far this January is living up to that standard. This past week we have seen first a 12 inch snow and then after a short break, another eight inches. On top of that, the bottom has dropped out of Canada and Arctic air is flowing in. As I write this the temperature in Glen Ellyn is -15F. That is with sunny skies! It was about the same when we left the house at 4:30 this morning.
What were we doing leaving the house at 4:30 AM on such a cold day? Sharon was attempting to get to Cleveland. American Airlines sent her a text before we left the house that indicated the flight was on time. About 10 minutes from O'Hare Sharon received another text that indicated her flight was cancelled. We went to the terminal and Sharon trudged in with her bag and briefcase to see what she could do. They told her the soonest she could leave for Cleveland was at 4:30Pm on Wednesday. I was waiting at the curb when she returned and we headed home.
The roads were in terrible shape except for the tollway. With all the snow that we have seen plus super low temperatures, the snow plows could not keep up and salt was not working to melt the snow and ice. We were happy to get home and stay home.
Sharon is working from home and I am piddling. Did a little house pick up, took a nap, read some, and now I'm blogging. I should do something productive like singing, or ukulele practice, or piano practice, or even finishing putting laminate in the laundry room!